Rockaway Gets The Short End Of The Stick

Dear Editor,

Hey, Audrey: it's time to do the right thing for the people of Rockaway. The Arverne YMCA pool needs four more lanes so that the school children can have their competitive swim meets like every other neighborhood.

After receiving Queens Borough President Helen Marshall's summer 2007 progress report, it became very clear that Rockaway has been forgotten again. The report granted $44 million to libraries, $75 million to the Department of Parks and Recreation, $21 million for the Queens Theatre ($10 million has already been granted to the new performance and café/- cabaret space), $11.2 million for the Queens Botanical Garden, $1.7 million to support the $6 million Grand Entrances projects for the Garden, $10 million for cultural programs, performances and conferences, $4.6 million for a new library to replace the aging Queensbridge and Ravenwood branches, and $850,000 for the Fort Totten Museum building.

With all the money the borough president has spent and will be spending, can't Pheffer get the Arverne pool a grant so that the additional four lanes can be built?

It would be great for the people of Rockaway if they got the eight-lane, Olympic-size pool that they have been promised for years.

Audrey, for years you and your office have always stated that they support a pool in the Rockaways. Now is the time to stand up and do the right thing. The time is now to save the Arverne YMCA!